Olive Garden will be making some major changes to its logo, décor and menu in an effort to win back old customers while gaining new ones, according to the Associated Press.
The Italian food chain presented the new logo to executives at Darden Restaurants Inc., the owner of Olive Garden, on Monday, along with a detailed presentation that outlined the restaurant's future. The AP reported that the new logo is an attempt to bring about a "brand renaissance."
All changes are meant to demonstrate "a sense of flair and sophistication" at the restaurant. Executives at Darden Restaurants Inc., expressed confidence in the upcoming changes.
"We started with brand conditioning as the foundation for our initial design," Dave Pickens, chief restaurant operations officer for Darden, said in the presentation, according to The Consumerist. "We then conducted extensive testing and quantitative research to further shape and validate the new design."
The new Olive Garden logo has a brown background with the restaurant chain's name in white font. It also has "Italian Kitchen" in green underneath and features a small, green olive branch. According to Pickens, the logo was created with design firm Lippincott.
The chain is also updating its menu with smaller dishes, such as the new Parmesan Olive Fritta at under-575 calories. It will also offer the option to mix and match pastas and sauces. The Italian chain told Nation's Restaurant News that the menu is "the most significant evolution in the restaurant's history."
Darden has released pictures of the redesigned restaurants, featuring darker wood floors, exposed ceiling beams and long, green couches. The new interior will go along with the redesigned staff uniforms that employees received last year.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, other changes include 20 new menu items, online ordering, testing carside pickup, and delivery for large orders.
The changes will affect 350 of its 800 restaurants. Starting May 2014, the company will begin testing new designs at 75 Olive Garden restaurants through fiscal 2015, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Last month, investors repeatedly insisted that Darden break off from Olive Garden and Red Lobster due to poor performance in sales for both restaurants.
Darden, which also owns Longhorn Steakhouse, Yard House, and Bahama Breeze, said in its presentation that it plans to hang on to Olive Garden and sell or spin off Red Lobster. The AP reported that Red Lobster attracted different guests than the rest of its chains.
"We believe separation will allow Red Lobster and the rest of Darden to better serve what are increasingly divergent guest targets," the company said. "Separation moves from Darden the high level of same restaurant sales volatility associated with the more promotional nature of the Red Lobster business."
Olive Garden now represents nearly 40 percent of Darden's 2,100 restaurants. Shares of Darden fell about 5 percent on Monday.
